Your chance to vote on the Absolut Mexico ad

No time to compose a comment on the "In an Absolut World according to Mexico" ad? Tell us what you think by voting here:

Comments

[Gene Venable]

I thought the ad was funny, and I liked pakko's ad as well. America tolerates many points of view -- that's what makes us America.

[legalatina]

I can assure ABSOLUT and the idiots on their marketing/advertising team that millions of immigrants living legally in TX, NM, AZ and CA never intended to live or belong to MEXICO. Funny, ABSOLUT just confirmed what the National Council of La RAZA, MECHA, MALDEF and Enrique Morones have been denying to the press and the American public...that is...that Mexicans want a Reconquista and that that movement indeed exists. ABSOLUT made an absolute mistake...for now the backlash is just beginning...their non-apology is not well taken and this coupled with the tired, old illegal alien marches planned for the Socialist May Day will only make Americans even more resolved to stop illegal immigration anarchy, deport all illegal aliens and enforce our laws. Si se puede....YA ES HORA!

[flint]

Absolut Ignorance of History. Or are you going to give credence to every revisionist version around the world?

Unfortunately, I can't boycott Absolut because I don't drink it to begin with...it sucks.

[rachel]

What next, Absolut? A map of the Middle East without Isreal on it so you can sell your swill to Palestinians? I guess whores will do anything for a buck. You oughta know.

I will boycott Absolut and their parent company. Grey Goose, anyone?

[dan]

If it wasn't for the U.S., the ad would have never been seen elsewhere, nor would there be any comments to post, because there wouldn't be an internet.

[Sean K]

Rick "Most Americans probably don't know that the southwest was the territory of Mexico and that American imperialists sole it when Mexico was distracted by a civil war.

They probably think God just handed it to the white man as a matter of manifest destiny.

So, a little education for our our sorry masses to go along with a swig of vodka. I'll drink to that!"

Lemme ask you this, supergenius historian Mr. Rick:
How, pray-tell, did Mexico come to control this Northern area? They STOLE it from the Native Americans just like the Whites did to the areas east of there. So someone 'stole' (given that they 'stole' it by paying for it after the mexican American war, which was started by mexico) the land that they controlled for a lousy 20 years after STEALING it from someone else. I already know that American History classes were full of lies and propaganda, but apparently they also teach selective history classes in Mexican Schools (meaning schools in mexico, not american schools full of mexicans).

[gary]

read your history....................the only land that mexico can actually claim as stolen was the land know as texas. and I for one will be happy to give it back to mexico. the rest is re-doing history to suit the histronics of mexicans. Also, in order to get texas back, the bush family must go with it.

[Hodeener]

The negative reaction to this ad, from my view, comes from a bit of protectionism. The reason there is so much negative reaction is because many in the U.S. feel overrun by the amount of illegal immigration we have allowed. We have allowed it because we (or private business) has benefited by this. Now we as a country are questioning if this is now a net positive. I struggle with that question myself being a Mexican-American. I have a finance background and I look at the economics of having illegal immigration. I understand that many pay taxes in some form or other. Via sales or via completing a tax return. If any of you have ever done your own taxes, you would understand where I am getting at. So this is mainly our population feeling insecure about having others claim our land. We all know this will never change so even if our fore fathers were wrong when they waged the war where we took possession of this region, our country has it and it can never be questioned. Get over your insecurities on that and let us look at the real issue, how many (and what type, ie education, skills, etc) of folks do we want from all countries that will benefit our economics, As far as Absolut versus other brands, they all taste about the same and Vodka is not the biggest concern I have.

[ielmar]

UMM wow! How can anyone take a foreign company's advertisment for an intoxicant as a political statement? Seriously, relax! It is not a statement on Mexicans or Americans. If you are upset, please be thankful that you have been blessesd with no real problems.

[Adam Harris]

You guys are killing me whites or browns it's not a matter of color listen I'm an american but I might be one of the fewest that ain't blind being an american is a disgrace these days I currently live in Mexico City and listen carefully get the wax out of your ears living in Mexico City is the best not what you see in the movies I feel more in a first world country living in Mexico rather that the US can't get better than this.....what's the matter the cat got you're tong.........

[John]

I did not understand why all the fuss about the ad. I am from Greece, and regarding our problem with neighboring FYROM, which claims our history and northern territory, the USA recognized FYROM as Macedonia. It is like Russia would recognize Mexico including Texas and New Mexico. You object to an ad so much, whereas your foreign policy backs similar actions from our neighboring countries. Why, don't you also object to that kind of US policies which create unfriendly feeling for your country?

[Gimme a Break]

Oh come onnnnnnnnnnn! Both political parties have sold us out to Wall Street and the Profiteering War Mongers, and the purpose of your life is to discuss an advertisement??? How LAME is your dead brain, folks? There IS something to be very upset, and angry about - it's our politicians! You CAN do something other than blog - vote for the NEW people in November! And keep doing THAT, and it will in 4-8 years, change history, and YOUR life... if, you can find one.

[troy]

Sooner or later, this whole mexican illegal alien thing is finally going to blow up, unfortunately with violence and death on both sides.

I've spoken to people of all races/ethnicities and let me tell you, there is true passion and hate. I don't know if mexicans realize how intense the hatred whites, blacks, and asians feel against them, especially because of the mexican gangbangers.

Mexicans, for all of their complaints about white racism, are some of the most backward thinking, ignorant, sexist and racist people in America. They have absolute racism against blacks in America and in Mexico, and they see all asians as "Chinos". They hate whites, too, but are too afraid to offend them. They also hate Indians, especially in Mexico. And they mistreat women horribly.

This will all come to pass one of these days. Things will get worse, and may never get better. Mark my words.

[troy]

What's the fuss? The Mexicans have already reclaimed California, it's just not official.

Thanks Bush.

[William]

We paid Mexico twice for the land, we gained freedom in Texas and then fought the war and won the battle, I will never buy another Bottle of Absolute's or any product imported or produced by the company again, nor will my children and family friends will be influents as well, let Absolute survive on Mexico's purchases, I think the Mexicans prefer another drink made from cactus??

[Julian S Camacho]

Re: E Gil.

What does this immigrant know about socialization of Mexican Americans? He is not like me, a Mexican born north of the border.

Has he seen Lennox, East Los Angeles, Sal Si Puedes in San Jose, Pacoima or Calexico? How different are those places from Tijuana?

Was he socialized with constant racism which are laws and attitudes that keep Mexican Americans from full participation in the society that does not go beyond minimum wage labor and one that does not make you feel inferior because of brownness.

Until Gil has lived all his life from birth to death north of the border, he will never comprehend the Mexican American experience because he had a choice to come. Mexico does not hold people back and as soon as his citizenship is revoked he has a place to return to where as I don't.

That is something he will never understand because he represents the same people who sold off northern Mexico without consultation of the people in the north to save themselves. Or better stated, he'll sell "patria" for a paycheck.

[C L]

Just as people in the US fought for Independence from England, Mexicans started their war for independence from Spain in 1810 and achieved it in 1821.

After independence, the formerly Spanish territories were under Mexican control. Mexico forbid Anglo immigration. Whites consistently broke Mexican law when they illegally invaded California and the Southwest.

In Texas, the Mexican government had given permission for some whites to emigrate. But thousands more Anglo immigrants, or criminals, arrived illegally.

Prior to 1823, there were less than three thousand white people in Texas. At that time, the Mexican government had given Stephen Austin permission to live there along with a few hundred other Gringos, with the condition that they would become Mexican citizens, they would speak Spanish, and they would pledge allegiance to the Mexican government. But white colonists began to enter the territory illegally and brought their slaves with them. Within a decade, whites outnumbered the Hispanic inhabitants. Gringos were interested in the rich agricultural lands of the Texan territory. These were the illegal aliens of their day, see Patricia Nelson Limerick, The Legacy of Conquest: The Unbroken Past of the American West. By 1830, whites outnumbered Mexicans 25,000 to 4,000.

In 1835 Sam Houston, who had illegally crossed into Texas, argued against mixing with the Mexicans, “no matter how long we may live among them.” See Houston speech to Soldiers, January 15, 1836, in the Papers of the Texas Revolution, 1835-1836, gen. Ed. John J. Jenkins, 4:30. The Gringos eventually overwhelmed the original inhabitants of the territory and began to impose the English language on them.

According to Mexican Lieutenant Jose Maria Sanchez, the foreign intruders “have taken possession of practically all the eastern part of Texas, in most cases without the permission of the authorities. They immigrate constantly, finding no one to prevent them, and take possession of the sitio (location) that best suits them without either asking leave or going through any formality other than that of building their homes.”

During the Battle of the Alamo, the defenders were fighting for slavery, which Mexico had abolished in Texas in 1829. After the defeats at the Alamo and Goliad, on April 21, 1836, Sam Houston’s army of less than 800 men defeated Santa Anna's army as it camped out on the San Jacinto River, east of present-day Houston. The next day, Houston's army captured Santa Anna himself and forced him to sign a treaty granting Texas its independence, a treaty that was never ratified by the Mexican government because it was acquired under duress.

Soon after, these Anglo aliens usurped Mexicans’ land. They began to dishonor Mexican land claims. They passed new laws in English, a foreign language for those Mexicans whose border had moved. Often Mexican land was auctioned off for pennies an acre for failure to pay taxes. Mexicans were commonly lynched and whole communities were driven out of Texas towns.

Gringos carried out raids in which they murdered Mexicans and forcibly took their land and stocks. Historian A.B.J. Hammet states that Mexican families were “driven from their homes, their cattle and horse and their lands, by an army of reckless, war-crazy people.” In 1839 over a hundred Mexican families were forced to abandon their houses in the town of Nacogdoches by invading Gringos. The mayor of San Antonio in 1840, Juan Seguin, states in his “Personal Memoirs of John N. Seguin”, how Mexicans came to him repeatedly from protection of the invading whites. Eventually, he had to flee to Mexico because of personal threats against him.

Anglo outlaws raided Mexican ranches, killing the inhabitants, burning homes and stores. Mexican livestock was declared public property and the invaders forcefully took Mexicans’ property and their land. Mexicans were driven out of Austin in 1853 and again in 1855. They were expelled from Seguin in 1854, from Matagorda and Colorado Counties in 1856, and from Uvalde in 1857.

Rancher Faustino Morales recalls that how the Gringos “came in and drove the Mexicans out and took over their ranches.” See Frank H. Dugan, “The 1850 Affairs of the Brownsfield Separatists”. Southwestern Historical Quarterly 61,no.2.

Years later, whites would also use the Texas Rangers to officially carry out their deeds. “Texas Rangers, in cooperation with land speculators, came into small Mexican villages in the border country, massacred hundreds of unarmed, peaceful Mexicans villagers and seized their lands. See “The Mexican Question in the Southwest, “ Political Affairs March 1939.

Most of the illegal aliens were land speculators and criminals. William Barret Travis had escaped to Mexican territory after he had killed a man. Jim Bowie was a slave trader who had gone into Texas hoping to make some business; Sam Houston and Davy Crockett had participated in the massacre of the Creeks at Horseshoe Bend.

Abb Emanuel Domenech, a religious missionary in Southern Texas, states in “Missionary Adventures in Texas and Mexico” that “The American of the Texan frontiers are, for the most part, the very scum of society-bankrupts, escaped criminals, old volunteers, who after the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, came into a country protected by nothing that could be called a judicial authority, to seek adventure and illicit gains.”

The Anglo invasion of Mexican territory was not confined to Texas. They arrived in droves and illegally occupied great parts of the Southwest and California.

California Governor Pio Pico warned of how “we find ourselves threatened by hordes of Yankee immigrants who have already begun to flock into our country and whose progress we cannot arrest.”

By the late 1800’s, Anglos had acquired four fifths of the Mexican land grants. See A History of Multicultural America, by Ronald Takaki. Six years after Texas independence, 1.3 million acres had been seized by 13 anglos. David Montejano, Anglos and Mexicans in the Making of Texas.

Believing in its racist ideology to wipe out other races by killing Indians and stretching to the Pacific Ocean, the United States had previously offered to purchase the Mexican territories of California, New Mexico, and Arizona for $15 milion. Mexico had indignantly refused the offer. Just as George Bush used the pretext of Weapons of Mass Destruction to attack Irak, US President James Polk then instigated war against Mexico in 1846 in hopes of acquiring Mexican territory. Most historians agree that this war was unjustified. Opponents of the war included Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry Clay, Mark Twain and Daniel Webster.

One of the most interesting episodes of the Mexican War surrounded the St. Patrick's Battalion. Among the American troops was a contingent of Irish-born soldiers. After the war commenced, 200 of these soldiers concluded that they were fighting on the wrong side. They didn't like the fact that the United States was using its overwhelming might to invade and conquer a much weaker nation. They deserted the American army and began fighting for the Mexican army.

When U.S. Gen. Winfield Scott and his troops reached Mexico City, after invading at Veracruz, they captured the St. Patrick soldiers and hanged 50 of them.

The Mexican War ended with the surrender of Mexico and with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848. With this treaty, Mexico lost one-half of its territory.

But this illegal and unjust war cannot be justified, just as I cannot go into your home, put a gun to your head, force you to sell me your house for $5, and then pretend that this transaction was just or legal.

[epoch]

When California and the Southwest were mostly uninhabitable desert you couldn't pay Mexicans to move there. Now that they are nicely deveoped and worth trillions......

[Donna]

I would never drink this again and think they should go to hell.

[John]

I don't know about the rest of you, but I just love watching the effect of one ad, actually putting a company out of business.

I'm guessing in two weeks the new owners change the brand from absolut...

And as for the rest of you, I ask simply one question, which side of the fence do you want to live on?

[LawyerTom1]

Get a life. It is a silly ad. The amazing thing is that any of our geographically challenged population actually recognized the old map for what it was.

[trai_dep]

So now the US gets veto power of any ads run in MEXICO?!
Chill out, fellahs. Geezus, you're looking foolish and pedantic.

[Hunter Brasseaux]

Reactionary? Crude? I ponder what criticisms would be levelled at an American beer company who runs an inflammatory advertisement depicting Palestine as Israeli territory or Tibet & Taiwan as Chinese or perhaps Kosovo as a Serbian province. It would probably run along the lines of a greedy corporation exploiting an emotionally charged situation it knows nothing about for mere profit. I guess being non-American renders you incalpable in the eyes of some.

[Stephen Guine]

When did it become an affront to make fun and have a chuckle. Lighten up! It's a vodka ad for goodness sake!

[Duh ?]

. Mexico has a single, streamlined law that ensures that foreign visitors and immigrants are:

in the country legally;

have the means to sustain themselves economically;

not destined to be burdens on society;

of economic and social benefit to society;

of good character and have no criminal records; and

contributors to the general well-being of the nation.

The law also ensures that:

immigration authorities have a record of each foreign visitor;

foreign visitors do not violate their visa status;

foreign visitors are banned from interfering in the country's internal politics;

foreign visitors who enter under false pretenses are imprisoned or deported;

foreign visitors violating the terms of their entry are imprisoned or deported;

those who aid in illegal immigration will be sent to prison

And these are the laws of Mexico!!!